The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame gave a special look into its upcoming events for 2024, including three new exhibits, as well as the 2024 induction nominees and expansion plans.
Growth seems to be the overarching theme for the Rock Hall this year with new developments in education, resources and a generous lineup of musical performances and events for the city of Cleveland.
Here’s what visitors can expect this year at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Expansion: CEO Greg Harrison shared that the Rock Hall will not close down during its 50,000-square-foot expansion project, and the construction will not impact the pyramid for at least the first year. “We have too many people coming from all over the world to experience the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” says Harrison, regarding the decision to keep the museum open.
The expansion offers a state-of-the-art educational center in the museum and a mixed-use performance venue that can hold up to 1,400 people for shows. The renovation also dramatically changes the museum’s entryway.
Revolutionary Women in Music: Opening on March 8, International Women’s Day, this exhibit will feature never-before-seen artifacts from dozens of female artists including Beyonce, Pink, Meg White, Christina Aguilera, Bjork, Susana Vega, Billie Eilish and more.
Some of the items that will be featured from the Rock Hall’s vault include the entirety of Natalie Merchant’s “Ophelia” video costumes; Christina Aguilera’s tour wardrobe from her “Stripped” world tour’s “Beautiful” performance; along with pieces from Liz Phair, Queen Latifah, Anni Defranco, Sleater-Kinney and more. “For generations, women have fought against socially constructed gender norms to obtain equal social, political, and economic freedoms, and this exhibit, which has been decades in the making, will tell this story in a way that has never been done before,” says Shelby Morrison, VP of Curatorial Operations.
1984: Set to open July 3, this exhibit is in honor of the 40th anniversary of 1984, which music journalist Alan Light coined “the most important year in pop.” In 1984, Bruce Springsteen released Born in the USA, Madonna put out Like a Virgin, Tina Turner released Private Dancer, Prince put out Purple Rain, and new bands such as Duran Duran, Eurythmics and Culture Club gained popularity. The exhibit will feature artifacts, music and video to highlight the best moments of this year and its impact on history.
2024 Inductees: The Rock Hall will be hosting the 2024 Hall of Fame induction ceremony for the first time since 2021. The event will take place in October, but no specific date or venue has been decided.
This year’s inductee nominees include Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Eric B. & Rakim, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Jane's Addiction, Kool & the Gang, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Sinéad O'Connor, Ozzy Osbourne, Sade, and A Tribe Called Quest.
The 2024 ceremony will stream live on Disney+ as done in previous years, with a special airing on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the next day.
Education: Besides in-person classes held regularly at the Rock Hall, their online educational resources have grown with the launch of a new edu site, that is free to teachers and has more than 11,000 teachers registered to utilize these online assets in the classroom with modules, videos and more.
“Those 11,000 teachers reach over a million students in their classrooms. It's staggering and it's an amazing program. We want the world to know about this. We have 11,117 registered teachers as users, and this has resulted in 1.3 million students being served around the world,” says Harrison.
